Balance stressed as Clearwater celebrates 35th Revival

Friday

There will be about 110 artists (translating into more than 1,000 performers when all the band members are counted), all working for deeply discounted fees if not for free.

There will be about 110 artists (translating into more than 1,000 performers when all the band members are counted), all working for deeply discounted fees if not for free.

They will perform on seven stages run by either solar power or biodiesel fuel scattered throughout scenic Croton Point Park in Croton-on-Hudson. Intermingled will also be exhibits that include a working waterfront, an artisanal food and farm market, a green living area, environmental expo and juried crafts.

Even Metro-North is on board, offering packages to the attendees who want to take advantage of the weekend event but aren't interesting in camping or staying in a hotel.

And because it's a true family affair, not only are kids younger than 12 admitted free, but there will be plenty of activities to hold their interest. They'll be treated to clowns, jugglers, puppet shows and a musical petting zoo, plus a splash of waterfront happenings including sloop and schooner sails.

Welcome to Clearwater's Great Hudson River Revival, celebrating its 35-year anniversary.

"What's behind the event is just as important as the music," says Steve Lurie, its director.

More than 40 years ago, musician and activist Pete Seeger, with the support of like-minded friends, decided to use music as one of the tools to resuscitate the dying Hudson River. With money raised from passing his banjo at small riverfront fundraising concerts, the sloop Clearwater was built. It sailed the Hudson Valley, drawing attention to the river's life-threatening illness through informal folk picnics. But in 1978, with the honing of its mission as an environmental leader came a more organized festival, the first Clearwater's Great Hudson River Revival.

Four years ago, Lurie, also president of Music Without Borders, took the helm with the intent of steering the growing festival into even deeper waters. In celebration of Seeger, his legacy and the Clearwater community, today's festival draws an audience from across the world.

"We're expecting 20,000 people over the course of the weekend, if it ever stops raining," says Lurie, who books most of the artists and oversees yearlong monthly meetings of 60-70 planning committees and 1,000 volunteers.

Because it began as a folk festival, Lurie stays true to its musical roots while nurturing growth.

"I look at 'folk' in the broadest sense. To a lot of people, a white guy on a guitar is folk music," he says.

So along with "traditional folk," he seeks out contemporary sounds from around the world, many of which are intertwined with dance, and some of which have individual roots that are also intertwined with Seeger and/or his beliefs, such as Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars.

And then there's the connection with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who attended a Staples Singers concert in Montgomery, Ala., and met with and inspired the performers afterward. Legendary soul singer Mavis Staples is part of that famous family and is performing Saturday night. Seeger's recording of "We Shall Overcome" is credited as a connection to the civil rights movement.

At noon Sunday, the 94-year-old Seeger himself will be performing, something he did not do last year. He'll share the stage with longtime friend Lorre Wyatt. Seeger and Wyatt recorded "A More Perfect Union," released in 2012, and Lurie says the audience can expect songs from that album.

Lurie was excited about Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings appearing, but her recent diagnosis of early-stage bile duct cancer forced her to cancel. Fortunately, surgery is expected to be successful.

"I'm sorry it's happening," says Lurie. "I brought on another artist, not to replace her, but when I shifted the schedule, it opened a space."

The lineup — which spans Hot Tuna to Judy Collins, Son Volt to Buffy Sainte-Marie and Delhi 2 Dublin to Joan Shenandoah — is a calculated balance by Lurie so that not only men and women are fairly represented, but also are the rainbow of races and cultures from which they hail.

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